Cool, calm, and connected

The latest GS1900 smart managed switches come with smart fans and are whisper-silent in operation, making them perfect for small and open-plan offices and other locations where noise needs to be kept down to a minimum, says Luke Harley, Switching Market Development Manager EMEA at Zyxel.

The success of email and instant messaging has meant that most offices and workplaces have become relatively quiet places. There is not a lot of noise at all. The occasional exchange between colleagues, people coming and going from their desk and perhaps, every now and then, a message alert on a mobile phone.

Of course, we all still make and take calls on desk phones and mobiles, and many of us are now using collaboration services to connect to colleagues and contacts. When we do that, we do not want distractions. But we still need to have IT in the office and, as well as laptops and PCs, there may be an assortment of switches, routers and other devices tucked away in a corner of the office, under a desk, or in a small equipment rack.

‘Whisper silent’

Even a small collection of networking equipment will generate a constant low-level hum, and while this is not going to be a big problem most of the time, it would certainly be better if it made little or noise at all.

With the latest family of Zyxel’s GS1900 switches, noise is not a problem at all. The new models in the family – the 24EP, 24HP and 48HP – are ‘whisper silent’ in operation. They have smart fans that adjust their speed to the internal device temperature, automatically. The fans are precision-engineered too, so even when they do come on, you can hardly hear them at all.

That makes them an even better choice for small offices and workspaces. There are models to suit all sizes of network, from 8 to 48 Gigabit ports and PoE options too. The new GS1900-24EP model comes with a mix of 12 PoE ports and 12 standard ports, making it ideal for situations where only a few PoE ports are required.

Dependable performance

The GS1900-24HP and SG1900-48HP – both of which offer PoE across all ports – also now come with a smart fan. In addition, all three models can be set up using a wizard that makes applying and adjusting common configurations quick and easy. This saves time for network administrators or Zyxel partners who are carrying out installation work.

With their smart fans, whisper-silent operation, and dependable performance, with the new Zyxel GS1900 smart Gigabit switches, customers can be sure that the devices will always stay cool, while helping to keep the office working environment calm, and ensuring all users are reliably connected to the network at all times.